Certification Scheme; Inspection and Testing; and Earthing and Bonding Explained, with audiences totalling more than 150 members. The regional business conference at Lingfield Park in October 2010 was attended by 70 members, wholesalers, manufacturers and potential new members. It provided an excellent forum for industry allies to discus key ECA issues and other significant matters affecting the building services engineering industry.

Encouraging apprentice training has always been a major part of the South East region’s activities. The 2010 National JTL Apprentice of the Year Award, the JTL South East Region and the Edmundson/ ECA South East Region Apprentice Awards were all won by Graham Reynolds, working for ECA member Strange Electrical at Tunbridge Wells – a remarkable achievement. In 2010, via the ECA’s Golden Decade of Sport initiative, the South East region sponsored disabled wheelchair rugby athlete Steve Brown (see ECA Today, Winter 2010, ECA News), and the ECA’s sponsorship will help him further his aspirations to become a member of the UK wheelchair rugby team in the 2012 Paralympics in London. The region has worked hard to develop close working relationships with clients and specifiers, including the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Partners In Excellence agreements have been signed with the British Institution of Facilities Management

(BIFM) and the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters (CILA). Numerous presentations have been made at the branch meetings and conferences of these institutes, covering the benefits of using an ECA member company, the hidden perils of old and badly installed wiring, and restitution of electrical services following a fire or flood.

Social

As well as business support, the region encourages social events to bring members together. In June 2010, the region organised the ECA National Golf Day at the East Sussex National Golf Resort, which was well attended by ECA members, manufacturers and wholesalers from all over the UK. The region’s 2011 weekend conference will be held at the Celtic Manor Hotel near Newport in Wales on 7-9 October, and will provide an ideal opportunity for ECA members and their industry associates to network socially and discuss matters of interest in the industry. n Please contact the South East regional office on 01435 863101 for further details, or email howard. salmon@eca.co.uk

Your regional news

Let us know what you’re up to in your region, and share it with other ECA registered members. If you have any news of activities your region has been involved in, or details about forthcoming events, email mail@ecatoday.co.uk

Spotlight on: South Wales region

Cardiff, South Wales

Presentation of the 2010 South East region ECA Edmundson Apprentice Award to Graham Reynolds

building was purchased only some nine years ago, the South Wales region has had a presence here since the early 1900s. Indeed, the Swansea and West Wales branch chairman’s collar has the name of every chairman since 1921! The regional team consists of regional manager Lawrence Andrews and, regional secretary Audrey Bishop, who joined the organisation in June 2010. Together they look after the interests of more than 150 registered members in two branches – Cardiff and Newport (the branch chairman is Terry Jones), and Swansea and West Wales (branch chairman Jonathon Banfield) – along with client associates in the locality. The geographical area covers from Aberystwyth diagonally across to Chepstow on the border between

T

he South Wales regional office is based in the leafy suburb of Llanishen in the capital city of Cardiff. Although the

Wales and England. The South Wales region is also home to the incoming ECA president. This month, ECA senior vice president Alun Pearson is set to become only the second Welsh president in the ECA’s 110-year history when he takes office, following in the footsteps of Ken Baynton – the first president from Wales some 26 years ago. Alun has been involved in the ECA for 13 years, first becoming a member back in 1998. He was chair of the Cardiff &#38; Newport branch from 2004 to 2006 and again in 2009, and was chair of the South Wales regional executive committe between 2005 and 2007.

Activity

Since the New Year, the Welsh Assembly Government has, through the Energy Savings Trust, subsidised MCS Made Easy training courses run in the Cardiff offices, and these have been well attended by members. The South Wales region